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Karthik Naren

SpaceX launching Transporter-5 mission today

The dedicated rideshare mission carries "fifty-nine" deployable, Tugs and passive payloads in Orbit.


Falcon 9 B1061.8 at SLC-40 (Credit: SpaceX)

May 25, 2022; SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 v1.2 FT rocket number B1061.8 will Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force station for the Transporter-5 mission today at 18:26:59.990 UTC (2:26 p.m EDT). The first stage B1061.8 will be used for the 8th time it has supported the missions (Crew-1, Crew-2, SXM-8, Cargo Dragon CRS-23, IXPE, Starlink Group 4-7 and Transporter 4)

The Falcon 9 is due to launch towards the south of Cape Canaveral and a 'dogleg' maneuver will be made to reach the SSO azimuth. The recovery of the fairing shells should take place in the north of Cuba, about 600 km downrange of the Cape, by the support vessel Bob. The second stage will make its re-entry over the South Pacific.

The Transporter-5 manifests thirty-nine primary loads (59 Overall) from different nations including the United States, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia, Bulgaria, Brazil, Czech Republic, Turkey, Finland, Argentina, Norway, The Deployment is set between 19:26:00.510 to 19:42:22.810 UTC with a mean altitude of 525 km.


A backup opportunity is available on Thursday, May 26, with the same launch window. Falcon 9 will fly along Florida’s eastern coast over the ocean and may be visible from the ground



The B1061 is expected to land back at its launch site after this flight, in Return to Landing Zone – return to launch site, RTLZ mode; the landing will be in landing zone 1 – LZ-1, located at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, on the former LC-13 pad. A return to the launch site usually means that after the second stage separation, the booster flips over and does a boost backburn towards the landing pad near to launch site


This mission is the debut of the new variation of the orbital transfer vehicle, Sherpa-AC. This is an enlarged version of the base Sherpa model with key features including a flight computer, knowledge and attitude control, and a new electrical power system. Major launch customers include D-orbit, Momentus, Xona Space, NearSpace Launch, the Missile Defense Agency, and the MIT Lincoln Laboratory:


KUbeSat, a student-led organization at the University of Kansas, is building a CubeSat, a small cubic satellite that is scheduled to be launched in June 2022, KUbeSat’s Project Manager Arno Prinsloo said. After the launch, KU will be the first institution in Kansas to build and launch a satellite.

KUbeSat has been a member of the NASA CubeSat launch initiative since 2018, which will provide a vehicle to deliver the satellite into space, said Brody Gatza, a junior from Olathe studying aerospace engineering and the president of KUbeSat.

“We're kind of creating the infrastructure to build multiple CubeSats,” Gatza said. “We'd like to have one or two that we're working on at the same time.”

The satellite is equipped with a wide-angle lens camera, said Wyatt George, a sophomore studying aerospace engineering and the vice president of KUbeSat. Once in orbit, the KUbeSat team will be able to make ground observations, detect weather patterns and take pictures.



The worlds first selfie taking satellite (Orbit NTNU)


SelfieSat will take the world’s first selfie from a satellite in space. The external LCD-display displays pictures sent in by the public. A camera mounted on a measuring tape arm photographs the screen with the Earth in the background. The project has inspired and brought space closer to us and proves how accessible the space industry has become.



TBIRD - NASA's Terabyte Infrared Delivery (TBIRD) program will demonstrate a direct-to-Earth laser communication link from a small satellite platform to a small ground terminal at burst rates up to 200 Gbps. Such a link is capable of transferring several terabytes per day to a single ground terminal. A TBIRD payload is currently being developed for flight on a 6U NASA CubeSat.


The LESSONIA-1 satellites (Carcará I and Carcará II) for Brazil service will be deployed from the D-Orbit ION ejector satellite:


The Lessonia Project consists of the acquisition of several low-orbit satellites, which seek to meet the needs of the Armed Forces, the Management and Operational Center of the Amazon Protection System, and other government agencies.

The imaging system of the Lessonia Project uses an active detection sensor that makes it possible to generate high-resolution images, at any time of day or night, regardless of the weather situation, because either signal crosses the clouds, and will allow continuous monitoring of areas of interest of Brazil.

The images obtained will serve to combat drug trafficking and illegal mining, observe burns, update cartographic data, determine the navigability of two rivers, or monitor natural disasters, and support border surveillance and control operations. According to FAB, the satellites have 1 cubic meter, weigh 5 kilos and have 5 solar panels and 300W power. The total value of the contract between the Air Force Command and the company ICEYE is US$ 33,874,000.00.


Outpost demonstration mission (Outpost Mars Demo-1)

Nanoracks designed a self-contained hosted payload platform to demonstrate on-orbit, debris-free, robotic metal cutting. Nanoracks and Maxar will have up to one hour to complete the cutting of three metal pieces "The same material is used on the outer shell of ULA's Vulcan Centaur". The demonstration itself will occur about 9 minutes into the flight and will be finished approximately 10 minutes later. The rest of the time the team will downlink the photos and video to the ground stations until the vehicle and hosted payloads de-orbit over the Pacific.

“We see this Outpost demonstration mission as contributing to NASA’s efforts to go to the Moon, Mars, and deep space,” says Marshall Smith, Nanoracks Senior Vice President of Space Systems. “NASA continues to turn to industry to test new exploration technologies, and we’re thrilled to support the agency’s goals through this demonstration while promoting the benefits of sustainable technology.”


ASCENSION (Celestis 21)


ASCENSION FLIGHT MISSION LOGO

Ascension’s launch service will be provided by OmniTeq, and the Celestis payload will be integrated into the Varisat High Frequency (a.k.a. shortwave radio) Communications Satellite platform. Celestis Ascension Flight payload will be housed in a 1U cubesat and deployed into Earth orbit, The estimated orbital lifetime of the satellite platform is more than 8 years.



Ascension will be the 9th Earth Orbit Service mission for Celestis, and the 23rd overall mission since the company’s founding in 1994.


Launch and Landing Infographic for Transporter-5 (Credit: SpaceX)

Launch, Landing, and Payload Deploy Sequence Timeline

All times are approximate


HR/MIN/SEC EVENT

00:00:00 Lift-off

00:01:12 Max Q (moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket)

00:02:16 1st stage main engine cutoff (MECO)

00:02:19 1st and 2nd stages separate

00:02:27 2nd stage engine starts

00:02:32 1st stage boostback burn begins

00:03:19 1st stage boostback burn complete

00:03:47 Fairing deployment

00:06:43 1st stage entry burn begins

00:07:08 1st stage entry burn ends

00:08:00 1st stage landing burn begins

00:08:25 2nd stage engine cutoff (SECO)

00:08:33 1st stage landing

00:08:35 Outpost Mars Demo 1 experiment initiation, manifested by Nanoracks

00:55:27 2nd stage engine restarts (SES-2)

00:55:59 2nd stage engine cutoff (SECO-2)

00:59:00 GeoOptics CICERO-2 Vehicle 2 deploys, manifested by Terran Orbital

00:59:09 SharedSat_2141 deploys, manifested by Exolaunch

00:59:18 NASA Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator 3 deploys, manifested by Terran Orbital

00:59:17 LEMUR 2 KAREN_B deploys, manifested by Exolaunch

00:59:37 URDANETA deploys, manifested by Exolaunch

00:59:46 GeoOptics CICERO-2 Vehicle 1 deploys, manifested by Terran Orbital

00:59:56 LEMUR 2 VANDENDRIES deploys, manifested by Exolaunch

01:00:05 Omnispace Spark-2 deploys, manifested by Exolaunch

01:00:24 LEMUR 2 TENNYSONLILY deploys, manifested by Exolaunch

01:00:47 GHGSat-C4 Penny deploys

01:01:00 Planetum-1 and SPiN-1 deploy, manifested by Exolaunch

01:01:09 LEMUR 2 HANCOM-1 deploys, manifested by Exolaunch

01:01:21 GHGSat-C3 Luca deploys

01:01:38 NASA CubeSat Proximity Operations Demonstration deploys,(Terran Orbital)

01:01:50 Connecta T1.1 deploys, manifested by Exolaunch

01:01:59 LEMUR 2 MIMI1307 deploys, manifested by Exolaunch

01:02:13 GHGSat-C5 Diako deploys

01:03:18 Foresail-1 deploys, manifested by Exolaunch

01:03:49 Fleet Space Centauri-5 deploys, manifested by Terran Orbital

01:04:04 CnCE V4 and CnCE V5 deploys

01:04:20 Satellogic’s Newsat 28 deploys

01:04:42 Spaceflight Inc’s Sherpa-AC1 deploys

01:05:28 Varisat-1C deploys, manifested by Momentus

01:05:43 AMS deploys

01:06:07 BroncoSat-1 deploys, manifested by Momentus

01:06:35 Satellogic’s Newsat 29 deploys

01:08:19 Satellogic’s Newsat 30 deploys

01:08:40 First ICEYE deploys, manifested by Exolaunch

01:09:00 Satellogic’s Newsat 31 deploys

01:09:22 D-Orbit’s ION SCV006 Thrilling Thomas deploys

01:09:44 Umbra deploys

01:10:05 HaykEye 360’s Hawk-5B deploys

01:10:26 HaykEye 360’s Hawk-5C deploys

01:10:48 HaykEye 360’s Hawk-5A deploys

01:11:17 Momentus’ Vigoride deploys

01:11:56 Second ICEYE deploys, manifested by Exolaunch

01:12:29 Third ICEYE deploys, manifested by Exolaunch

01:12:51 Fourth ICEYE deploys, manifested by Exolaunch

01:15:22 Fifth ICEYE deploys, manifested by Exolaunc


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